From the index low point of 157.97, hit on 9 March last year, the index rose by 60.26% to reach its year-end value of 253.16.

The index’s performance last month – up 5.85% - was also its best December reading of the decade.

However, the decade overall was still a poor one for equity investors, with the DJ Stoxx 600 losing 33% over the ten-year period.

Banks and commodity producers have been the best sector performers in the DJ Stoxx 600 since the market low in March, both registering gains of over 150%.

National benchmark indices rose in eighteen out of nineteen countries making up the Stoxx 600 universe, with Iceland the sole loser.

The Blackrock ETF Landscape DJ Stoxx 600 Sector ETF net flows report, released last week, showed that telecommunications, basic resources, utilities and banks were the sectors that attracted the largest net inflows to related ETFs during 2009, with a cumulative investment of over US$300 million per sector.

Financial services, media and technology were the only sectors seeing net ETF outflows during 2009, according to the report.